Ram, Erlich advance to Lyon semis

Andy Ram and Yoni Erlich advanced to the semifinals of the Lyon Grand Prix in France on Wednesday with a three-set win over James Blake and Jan Hernych.

The two-time defending doubles champs at the tournament overcame the American/Czech duo 7-5, 4-6, 6-3 to keep their hopes of snatching one of the final spots to the season-ending Masters Cup in Shanghai next month. Ram and Erlich are currently ninth in the ATP Doubles Race standings and must continue to do well in Lyon and next week at the Paris Masters to attain one of the top seven spots. The eighth spot at the Masters Cup has been awarded to Wimbledon champs Wesley Moodie of South Africa and Australian Stephen Huss.

The second seeded Israelis will next face the winner of the quarterfinal match pitting Spain's Tommy Robredo and Italy's Davide Sanguinetti against the South African/Dutch duo of Jeff Coetzee and Rogier Wassen.

Late on Wednesday, the top seeds, Frenchmen Michael Llodra and Fabrice Santoro, were scheduled to play countrymen Julien Benneteau and Nicolas Mahut in a first-round encounter. Llodra and Santoro lead Ram and Erlich in the Doubles Race by 34 points, meaning that an early defeat would boost the Israelis chances of overtaking them.

The Jerusalem Post Customer Service Center can be contacted with any questions or requests:
Telephone: *2421 * Extension 4 Jerusalem Post or 03-7619056 Fax: 03-5613699E-mail: subs@jpost.com
The center is staffed and provides answers on Sundays through Thursdays between 07:00 and 14:00 and Fridays only handles distribution requests between 7:00 and
13:00
For international customers: The center is staffed and provides answers on Sundays through Thursdays between 7AM and 6PM
Toll Free number in Israel only 1-800-574-574
Telephone +972-3-761-9056
Fax: 972-3-561-3699
E-mail: subs@jpost.com